Hidden in the Cracks

by Sandy Benitez

Rummaging through your face
blue ocean eyes
the one i remember
an old file
dusty
think unopened bottles
crown royale
coke
stored away
where i could not imagine you

today
i wrote a lost memo
some new clutter

questions
hidden in the cracks
spiders spinning tales
a gold hoop tangled
in denial
returned to sender

you came without a tie
apricot soap
a white angel
greeting me
handsigned
always
a long ago
when my fingertips
tasted your goodbye

A Gift for One

by Sandy Benitez

Strangers laugh and point at me.
Fingers carelesslly lighting

fires as if magic bred beneath
their shirt sleeves. I used to

burn badly. Now I stroll with
the pain. Bring me more, please.

It is beautiful, no? Suffering.
So I'm the sour girl, woman-child.

The oddity. The shrinking violet
in a field of drunk wild flowers.

And if you search long enough
you may see me. My short petals,

the purple glint in my eyes.
But I blend in well. I've learned

to adapt to changing seasons.
Smiles in Summer, frowns in Winter.

So when you arrive at my garden,
don't expect to pick a bouquet.

I travel solo. A gift for one.

The Dragon

by Sandy Benitez

When you first told me about
the dragon tattoo, I didn't
believe you were preppy 101,
clean cut in your wool sweater
and dockers. I wasn't sure
I wanted to see your legs,
lean and pale; a runner's body
fed from lentil soup and fish
crackers.

The dragon was a distraction for
the horror that lay underneath.
Creeping and winding itself
through layers of arrogance that
you breathed from your nostrils.
Setting fire to gentle hands
whose only intent was to touch
your heart.

I always thought dragons wore
beauty in unconventionality.
Loners, drifting in solitude, their
wings unclipped. But when I tasted
your fire, it burned my tongue.
So I spit you out, let you disappear
behind pages of myth.